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Casa 1910—THE Cinco De Mayo cigar of choice!

Add this cigar trip to your bucket list: Miami, Florida, Cinco De Mayo (Cinco De Dade!) for tequila and Casa 1910's new Mexigars—affordable bundled cigars that “encapsulate the essence of Mexico, using diverse seeds, tobaccos, and fermentations to create unique flavor profiles.”

Manolo Santiago, co-founder of Casa 1910 cigars joins Boveda's Drew Emmer to discuss Mexico's storied tobacco history. Learn about Casa 1910's premium aged cigars, too, which are named after heroes, sheroes, and events celebrating the Mexican Revolution.

00:00 This is Box Press

01:05 La Coronela cigar has a lot of flavor transitions

02:58 What's it like to start a new cigar company?

03:33 Mexico has amazing tobacco

03:49 Manolo is from Jalisco, Mexico—the land of tequila and Mariachi

05:04 3 Casa 1910 premium cigar lines

06:02 What's a Mexigar, the tasty affordable Mexican cigar?

08:18 Soldaderas were women who participated in the Mexican Revolution

10:28 Cinco de Mayo in Miami with Reserva de la Familia

11:02 Casa 1910 Experience

13:15 Keeping Casa 1910 cigars at the ideal humidity with Boveda 2-way humidity control

What is Boveda? Premium cigars brands like Casa 1910 protect their blends with Boveda 2-way humidity control—that brown pack that you find in the box with your cigars. Boveda preserves the flavor and character of premium cigars by keeping them at ideal humidity. At home, continue to use Boveda in your humidor to keep cigars well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll enjoy full flavor and a perfect smoke from every cigar.

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- [Manolo] ¡Salud!

- [Drew] ¡Salud!

(salsa music plays)

(continued greetings)

(salsa continues)

(indistinct chatter)

(laughter)

- [Drew] Sit in that chair.

- Oh, I get one?

This is the best part of the job.

- [Manolo] I know.

- [Drew] (inhales) So, okay.

First start with the award.

You won an award recently.

- [Manolo] A couple.

- [Drew] Talk about it.

- [Manolo] Sure.

- What, what'd you win?

- [Manolo] The Cigar Trophy Award.

And this one actually

wins 21 for the Top 25

in Cigar Journal.

- [Drew] Beautiful.

- [Manolo] Last year.

- [Drew] So one of them was for

cigars that are produced outside of

the Dominican and Nicaragua, correct?

- [Manolo] Yeah. This

one is D.R. and Mexico.

The other winner it's all Mexican puro

and we produce in Nicaragua and Mexico.

- [Drew] This is so fun.

Do you love your job?

- I love my job.

(interviewer laughs)

- [Drew] You get to serve friends tequila

and delicious cigars.

- [Manolo] I know.

- [Drew] That's so good.

Now tell me what I'm smoking.

- [Manolo] You're smoking La Coronela.

La Coronela is made with an

amazing Habano Ecuador wrapper.

- [Drew] This is, is so beautiful.

- [Manolo] The binder,

it's Brazilian Arapiraca.

And the filler, it's Mexico

with Dominican Republic tobaccos.

- [Drew] Outstanding.

- [Manolo] And the format,

it's 58x5.5.

- [Drew] I first met your team-

- [Manolo] Yeah.

- [Drew] Two years ago?

Was two years the launch, or three?

- [Manolo] The launch it was in 2021.

- [Drew] Ok, so three.

- [Manolo] Our first PCA

with just one cigar.

- [Drew] So this is the beginning of

your fourth year?

- [Manolo] Yeah.

- [Drew] How's it been?

- [Manolo] So far, so well.

- [Drew] Oh, this is lovely.

- [Manolo] (interviewer laughs) Thank you.

- [Drew] Hmm. How do

you describe the cigar?

- [Manolo] Well, from, in my opinion,

it's complex,

(interviewer hums)

but elegant with the Dominican tobaccos

and deep flavors and deep

aromas from the Negro San Andrés

inside in the filler.

So you can get sweetness,

stable hints of hay,

dark cacao in the last part of the mouth.

So it's very interesting

cigar. It's very transitional.

- Oh, it is interesting.

- And It's a lot of flavors.

- Yeah. It's very rich.

- It's the aroma.

It's beautiful.

- [Drew] Mh hmm

- [Manolo] Actually for this cigar.

I prefer the aroma for the, for the taste.

But it's beautiful.

- [Drew] Well, and it's,

there's a subtle floral-

Right? Is that right? Yeah.

It's really beautiful.

So how's the process of starting

a new cigar company?

- [Manolo] Wow. It's hard. It's hard.

For us, we work at, compared to one year

in the table between Jamie

[Baer], Serge [Bolling] and I

to talk about, about the cigars,

about the name, about

the colors, about the,

the proper logo type and the inspiration.

Because all the time I

talk about the, we need

to share Mexico, because

Mexico has an amazing tobacco,

not just for wrappers.

I know we have an amazing wrapper,

fabulous wrappers for Negro San Andrés,

but we produce an amazing

tobacco for the fillers.

So we need to share that.

And I'm from Jalisco-the

land of tequila and Mariachi,

so I need to share the both.

So we don't produce tequila,

but I looking the best

companion for our cigars.

And well, sometimes I make,

in the beginning the cigar and

after we find the name and the other

and other things and the storytelling.

But another time I

inspired the one element.

And for, from that I develop

and I design the cigar and

the blend to tell a story.

So we, we share Mexico between the,

the names, between the storytelling,

between the flavors and the aromas.

- [Drew] And it's the home of,

from the same home as

Mariachi and tequila.

Sharing Mexico. That's

really a wonderful theme

behind your, your craft.

And it is delicious.

- [Manolo] Great. (laughs)

- It is delicious.

What's in this box?

You brought so many wonderful

things for show and tell today.

- [Manolo] Yes. Well right

now we have three lines

of the, our premium shelf.

It's Revolutionary Edition, Mexican puros,

Calvary Edition blends

Nicaragua and Mexico.

And Soldadera Edition

blends Dominican Republican

and Mexico. It's our premium line.

We, I use special tobaccos

with a few years in age before be rolled.

For example, the Negro

San Andrés has five years

age before be rolled.

The Arapiraca has six

years before we rolled.

And after the rolling

process, I put in resting

for six to eight months each cigar.

So it's very, how do you say,

the very specific work in, in that cigars.

And right now in this

show we present Mexigars.

We made a special blend

between Mexico and cigars.

And I made Mexigars.

And my inspiration for

that cigar is a proper

traditional cuisine in Mexico.

You know, when you come

to a home for Mexicans,

you can feel the aromas for the kitchen.

So my inspiration is the proper

flavors for the Mexican food

from the chili, chocolate, spices, nuts,

and a lot of different elements.

But you need to recognize that element.

So it's made with just

all the Mexican tobaccos,

but different, I play

with different seeds.

For example, Habano grown in Mexico,

Negros San Andrés of course, and Sumatra

and another kind of tobaccos.

And I made that cigars very affordable,

very, it's like our entrance line.

- [Drew] Okay.

- [Manolo] Yeah.

It's more cheap than the premium line.

But it's very great flavor.

A lot of aromas, a lot of sensations.

So it's very interesting.

- [Drew] So how, is it

going well as far as

getting people to try the cigars?

Because my expectation

is it's very similar

to Boveda's challenge.

Once we get Boveda into a person's hands

and they experience it, they get it.

Same thing with these cigars.

I, I am less than three quarters

of an inch into this cigar.

And it is lovely. I mean it's

really a beautiful stick.

- [Manolo] Thank you.

- [Drew] Tastes great.

So how do you get people to try it?

Have you been doing a lot of events?

Have you been showing

up at a lot of stores

and spending time with people and,

and getting them to

actually smoke the cigar?

- [Manolo] Actually, yes.

I, I love to share Mexico

with all the cigar aficionados,

all the professionals,

with everybody.

Because we need to try to take

three principled columns

The, the first is Mexico inspiration.

Mexican Revolution. For example,

Soldadera, actually La Coronela,

she was the first female colonel,

legally in Mexico after the revolution.

But she fights in the,

in the Zapata's army.

So every cigar from us,

it's a small tribute

for different elements.

And the other line, it's Cavalry Edition,

it's a tribute for horses from

Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata

and Revolutionary Edition,

it's a tribute for each

important battle in

the Mexican Revolution.

So when I talk this

story, the story involves

around the, the people

to, close the people to

to the brand.

And the another column

is good looking cigars,

good looking packaging.

And of course the best way

to keep the packaging

ready is with Boveda.

So we put an amazing box, amazing colors

our box every time, keeps

the proper humidity.

- [Drew] Hold that up for the camera.

- Yeah.

- Show 'em the top.

Close the lid and show 'em the, the top

so they know what they're looking for.

It really is a beautifully

merchandised package.

- [Manolo] Yes.

And another important column from us

is the quality of the Mexican tobacco.

- [Drew] Oh, and you have the, the seal,

the Boveda package with Boveda seal.

Thank you very much.

- [Manolo] Yes

- [Drew] For - open that up again.

So I can imagine a

beautiful setting would be,

we have fiesta, food,

plenty of aromas from the food,

experience, the tequila,

relax, enjoy the conversation,

enjoy the food, cap it

off with a beautiful cigar

and share the flavors of Mexico.

- [Manolo] Yes. Actually we

made a very special event

in Cinco de Mayo, of course.

And I, I'm going in

Cinco de Mayo this day,

this year to Miami actually, to Florida

to make a huge event with Cinco de Mayo,

with Reserva de la Familia,

it's our partnership tequila,

and all cigars and Mariachi.

So I made a special pairing

between, in the beginning

with the Reposado and the

last part with extra añejo

to make a proper transition

between the complexity of the cigar.

We change the, the

complexity in the tequilas

with the Mariachi music

and the, and the talk.

It's amazing stuff.

And another thing we do is

Every year we share invitations

with the principal

customers in U.S. and Europe

to go to Mexico for

different series, cities.

For example, the first

it was in the Mexico City

in a beautiful hacienda.

Whole entire weekend with a

lot of different experience.

Friday, a beautiful

dinner, cocktail dinner.

Saturday, all the very special places,

we visit the very special

places in, in that town.

And we made a beautiful meal,

dinner with cocktails,

Mariachi, folklórico ballet,

and a lot of Mexican food and

a lot of Mexican cocktails

and different kind of spirits.

And we release the new, the new products.

And Sunday, it's more free

for, for the attendees so

they can go to check a lot of places.

And we take a very special brunch

with Mexican style

and it is an amazing,

an amazing experience.

And the 2023 we made in Tequila, Jalisco.

So we showed the agave fields,

the process of the tequila

from Reserva de la Familia.

We made a very special

pairings, Mariachi band.

A lot of, a lot of margaritas of course.

So it's an amazing

experience to share Mexico

with our customers.

- [Drew] Well, and it's beautiful.

You're giving a historical perspective.

You're giving people

a chance to understand

the history of Mexico.

You're dealing with the art of the food,

the art of the tequila,

the art of the tobacco.

It's really, it's hard to

have this conversation without

your mouth watering.

(Manolo laughs)

You know, it's, it, it's,

I think I'm gonna have to,

we're gonna have to go

to get tacos tonight.

It's gonna happen. I really

appreciate you letting us be

a part of your story.

- [Manolo] No, thank you

so much for your support,

definitely.

When we check the, the

pack and everything,

every time we say guys,

to my other co-founders,

Jamie and Serge, and he

say, guys, we need Bovedas.

We need Bovedas. Because it's

the best way to keep very in,

in the great point of consumption.

The cigars from the factory

to the final consumer.

In the beginning, we use Bovedas

and we keep to use Bovedas every time.

So

- [Drew] It's beautiful

- [Manolo] It's an amazing,

actually in my proper humidors

I use Bovedas so- (chuckles)

- [Drew] That's awesome.

We appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Congratulations on your awards.

Congratulations on the spirit

of hospitality that you bring

to presenting your, it was great fun

to get our group together

and have a salute.

- Yeah, amazing.

- Before we start,

and just really appreciate

your graciousness in,

in joining us and sitting with us.

- [Manolo] No, thank you

so much for having us.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

(salsa music plays)

A cigar that's very worthy

of sharing the experience of Mexico.

(salsa outro plays)